For several years, efforts have been directed to finding a replacement for traditional wood- or charcoal-burning barbecues. Such barbecues are toxic for certain foods. Fat, for example from meat, drips during cooking onto the wood or charcoal fuel, where it is pyrolized to form--among other products--carcinogenic polyaromatics, such as benzopyrene A.
To overcome these drawbacks, barbecues have been proposed with vertical roasting. The meat (or any other food) is held vertically between two grids, the roasting being performed by two radiant heat sources arranged on either side of the grids.
Barbecues have also been proposed with overhead heating, i.e. the heat source being located above the food, which is cooked solely by radiation.
With such vertical or overhead barbecues, the fat does not drip onto the heat source(s), but into a cold zone and so does not decompose.
Nevertheless, these various barbecues look very different from conventional barbecues and are not considered by users as equivalent to traditional barbecues.
More recently, to overcome this disadvantage, a barbecue has been proposed comprising two radiant gas burners arranged laterally on either side and below a horizontal food support. The fat drips between the heat sources without decomposing. Furthermore, in operation such a barbecue has a similar appearance to a traditional barbecue.
This barbecue, however, has the drawback of not allowing deep cooking of foods. It only allows searing of the surface, whereas some foods, such as white meat and vegetables, need to be cooked deeply and evenly.